iSK 


COMMERCE  WITH  CENTRAL  AND  SOUTH 
AMERICA  AND  WITH  THE  ORIENT,  SHOWING 
THE  NEED  OF  RECIPROCITY,  DIRECT  LINES 
OF  TRANSPORTATION  ANp  THE  NICARAGUA 
CANAL. 


SPEECH  OE 


Hon.  WARNER  MILLER 

OF  NEW  YORK, 

BEFORE  THE  HOME  MARKET  CLUB, 

IN  MUSIC  HALL,  BOSTON,  NOVEMBER  21,  1895. 


BOSTON,  1S9G: 

Published  by  the  Home  Market  Club. 


SPEECH  OF  THE  HON.  WARNER  MILLER. 


Mr.  President  and  Gentlemen  of  the  Home  Market  Club  — 
Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  an  improvement  in  the  market 
for  home  products  over  the  past  two  years  ; on  an  increased  out- 
put of  all  our  leading  industries  ; on  the  re-employment  of  large 
numbers  of  laborers,  at  wages  nearly  or  quite  up  to  the  standard 
of  1892  ; on  the  increased  demand  and  advanced  prices  of  our 
principal  agricultural  products,  cotton  and  wheat ; and,  more 
especially,  on  the  return  of  confidence  in  every  department  of 
business,  which  is  the  necessary  forerunner  of  the  return  of  the 
era  of  prosperity,  which  was  so  suddenly  checked  by  the  elec- 
tions of  1892. 

With  a Republican  House  of  Representatives  in  power,  a Re- 
publican majority  assured  in  the  Senate,  and  the  certainty  of  the 
election  of  a Republican  President  next  year,  we  may  unhesita- 
tingly prepare  for  a greater  activity  in  our  manufacturing  busi- 
ness and  for  an  increased  development  of  all  our  natural  resources 
such  as  mining  and  agriculture,  which  of  necessity  give  profita- 
ble employment  to  all  lines  of  transportation  now  existing  and 
necessitate  the  building  of  others ; we  may  confidently  look  for- 
ward to  a period  of  prosperity  the  equal  of  which  we  have  never 
known,  and  but  few  have  dreamed  to  be  possible.  [Ap- 
plause.] 

The  value  of  our  agriculture  and  manufactures  exceeds  that  of 
any  other  nation  by  many  million  dollars  annually.  We  are 
able,  not  only  to  supply  all  the  necessities  of  our  own  people, 
but  in  many  lines  of  production  we  can  and  do  produce  a large 
surplus,  which  can  only  find  a profitable  market  beyond  the 
limits  of  our  shores.  We  are  compelled  to  seek  a foreign  mar- 
ket for  our  surplus  cotton,  wheat  and  meat  products.  In  the 
manufacture  of  many  grades  of  cottons,  of  iron  and  steel,  ma- 
chinery, railroad  supplies,  agricultural  implements,  and  many 
other  kinds  of  goods,  we  can  now  compete  successfully  with  the 


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older  nations.  We  must,  therefore,  look  abroad  for  an  outlet 
for  our  present  surplus  and  for  the  increase  which  will  come 
with  returning  prosperity. 

Europe  requires  a large  amount  of  our  raw  cotton,  cereals  and 
meat,  but  wants  little,  if  any,  of  our  manufactures.  Great  Brit- 
ain, France  and  Germany,  though  unable  to  feed  their  own  peo- 
ple, are  termed  the  workshops  of  the  world,  and  their  wares 
find  use  by  every  nation  of  the  globe,  whether  civilized  or  barba- 
rous. Today  they  are  engaged  in  a fierce  contest  for  the  posses- 
sion of  the  continent  of  Africa,  and  the  islands  of  the  sea ; not 
that  they  may  extend  the  blessings  of  civilization  to  the  people 
they  subdue,  but  that  they  may  hold  the  monopoly  of  their  trade 
and  supply  them  with  the  products  of  their  manufacture.  The 
wars  they  make  on  these  barbarous  nations  are  not  prompted  by 
the  desire  for  conquest  and  military  glory,  but  for  the  profit  of 
trade. 

The  people  of  the  United  States  have  stood  uninterested  spec- 
tators of  this  hot  scramble  of  European  nations  to  possess 
themselves  of  the  uncivilized  portions  of  the  globe.  We  have 
heretofore  devoted  our  energies  to  the  development  of  the  natu- 
ral resources  of  our  own  domains,  with  so  much  success  that  the 
accumulation  of  wealth  and  the  power  of  producing  beyond  our 
wants  compel  us  to  seek  closer  relations  with  the  outside  world. 
We  need  not  covet  the  possessions  of  Europe  in  Africa  or  else- 
where, for  we  have  lying  at  our  doors  to  the  South,  and  to  the 
Orient  in  the  Pacific,  a market  which  will  take  all  we  have  to 
give  it,  if  by  wise  statesmanship  we  cultivate  such  relations  with 
these,  our  neighbors,  as  will  give  us  their  friendship  and  take 
and  hold  their  trade.  [Applause.] 

Mexico,  the  West  Indies,  Central  and  South  America  have  a 
population  of  nearly  70,000,000,  and  a trade  of  over  $1,000,- 
000,000.  Nature  has  made  possible  the  most  profitable  trade 
between  North  and  South  America.  The  raw  products  of  the 
two  hemispheres  are  dissimilar,  North  America  producing  mate- 
rials belonging  to  the  temperate  zone,  while  Mexico,  Central  and 
South  America  and  the  West  Indies  produce  everything  found  in 
the  tropics.  Exchange  between  such  countries  is  a necessity  for 
both.  Manufactures  thrive  only  in  the  northern  latitudes; 
nature  seems  to  have  set  the  limits  on  the  development  of  the 
great  industries  and  confined  them  to  the.  temperate  zone.  We 
require  of  our  Southern  neighbors  all  their  raw  products,  such 
as  sugar,  coffee,  hides,  hemp,  dye  woods,  mahogany,  etc.  They 


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need  many  of  our  food  products  and  all  our  manufactures.  Why 
should  we  not  control  this  vast  trade,  both  to  their  and  our  profit? 
[Applause.  We  have  not  controlled  it  in  the  past  because  we 
have  not  made  it  possible  to  carry  on  direct  trade  with  those 
countries.  Much  of  our  trade  with  them  has  gone  through 
English  vessels,  leaving  a large  share  of  the  profit  with  them. 

Trade  With  Countries  South  of  Ours. 

Let  us  look  for  a moment  at  the  magnitude  of  this  trade, 
which  lies  at  our  doors  awaiting  our  pleasure  to  take  it.  Mex- 
ico, our  nearest  neighbor,  in  1893  imported  products  from  the 
whole  world  to  the  amount  of  $30,000,000,  of  which  we  fur- 
nished $14,000,000,  or  47  per  cent;  she  exported  products  to 
the  value  of  $79,000,000,  of  which  the  United  States  took  $60- 
000,000,  or  76  per  cent  of  her  entire  exports. 

The  Central  American  States  for  the  same  year  imported 
$21,000,000  of  products,  of  which  the  United  States  furnished 
$5,125,000  or  25  per  cent.  These  States  exported,  the  same 
year,  $30,000,000  of  products,  of  which  the  United  States  took 
$9,769,000,  or  33  per  cent. 

All  the  South  American  States,  during  the  same  year,  im- 
ported products  to  the  amount  of  $400,000,000,  of  which  the 
United  States  furnished  only  $33,000,000,  or  per  cent. 
These  States  exported,  the  same  year,  products  to  the  amount  of 
$456,000,000,  of  which  the  United  States  took  $100,000,000,  or 
22  per  cent. 

Cuba  exported  products  in  the  same  year  $87,000,000  in  value, 
of  which  the  United  States  took  $78,000,000,  or  90  per  cent  of 
her  entire  exports.  It  imported,  during  the  same  year,  $55,000- 
000  of  products,  of  which  the  United  States  furnished  $18,000- 
000,  or  33  per  cent.  During  the  past  five  years  we  have  taken 
from  Cuba  $348,000,000  in  products,  and  have  sent  her  in  re- 
turn only  $87,000,000  worth.  It  would  appear  from  these  fig- 
ures that  we  are  deeply  interested  in  Cuba,  and  might  be  justi- 
fied in  demanding,  while  we  take  from  her  nearly  her  entire 
product,  that  we  should  be  permitted  to  furnish  her  the  bulk  of 
her  importations.  [Applause.] 

The  Value  and  Need  of  Direct  Lines  of  Transportation. 

It  will  be  seen  from  these  figures  that  our  proportionate  trade 
with  Mexico  is  very  large.  It  has  rapidly  increased  in  the  past 
few  years,  owing  chiefly  to  the  construction  of  two  railroads  — 
the  International  and  the  Central — which  lead  directly  into  our 


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territory,  and  thereby  give  us  the  advantage  of  sending  our  prod- 
ucts directly  into  her  markets. 

This  is  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  there  can  be  no  profitable 
trade  between  different  countries  unless  there  is  rapid  and  cheap 
intercommunication.  [Applause.]  Our  failure  to  take  and 
hold  our  fair  share  of  the  trade  of  Central  and  South  America  is 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  we  have  no  well-established  steam- 
ship lines  giving  us  rapid  and  regular  communication  with 
South  American  ports. 

In  order  that  we  may  secure  this  trade  it  is  necessary,  first, 
that  we  develop  our  merchant  marine  and  establish  regular  lines 
of  steamers  between  ports  of  the  United  States  and  all  the  lead- 
ing ports  of  Central  and  South  America.  [Applause.] 

We  do  a very  large  business  with  Brazil,  having  taken  from 
her  in  1894  products  to  the  value  of  $79,000,000.  This  was 
chiefly  coffee,  but  we  returned  her  of  our  products  and  manufac- 
tures only  $14,000,000  worth.  This  business  was  carried  al- 
most entirely  in  English  bottoms.  The  English  vessels  engaged 
in  this  trade  sail  first  from  England,  freighted  with  her  manufac- 
tured products,  to  Brazil,  bring  back  a cargo  of  coffee  to  New 
York,  in  return,  and,  taking  American  products  from  New 
York  to  Liverpool,  making  a triangular  trip,  which  is  so  man- 
aged as  to  bring  us  the  raw  products  of  Brazil  and  enable  Eng- 
land to  furnish  in  exchange  her  manufactures. 

If  the  American  manufacturer  would  reach  the  markets  of 
Brazil  today  or  go  there  in  person,  he  must  first  take  ship  to 
Liverpool  and  from  there  to  Rio  Janeiro.  There  is  no  possi- 
bility of  our  securing  any  considerable  portion  of  the  trade  of 
those  countries  except  by  the  establishment  of  steamship  lines 
which  shall  give  us  regular  and  rapid  mail  communication,  and 
at  the  same  time  enable  us  to  put  our  products  into  their  markets 
through  first  hands,  instead  of  through  the  English  factor  or 
commission  merchant.  This  proposition  is  made  so  clear  by  the 
experience  of  all  commercial  nations  that  it  needs  no  argument 
to  compel  its  acceptance.  [Applause.] 

The  Establishment  and  Defeat  of  Reciprocity. 

The  last  Republican  Administration  developed  and  put  into 
practice  a series  of  reciprocity  treaties  with  nearly  all  of  the 
countries  lying  to  the  South  of  us.  This  policy  recommended 
itself  to  substantially  all  of  our  people  ; it  was  shown  to  be  de- 
sirable that  the  raw  products  of  those  countries  not  coming  into 


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competition  with  the  raw  products  of  our  own  country  should  be 
Admitted  free  of  duty  for  the  benefit  of  our  own  people,  and 
that  if  this  privilege  were  acccorded  to  our  Southern  neighbors 
it  was  claimed  that  they  in  return  should  receive  from  us  many 
of  our  products,  either  free  from  duty  or  at  duties  lower  than 
they  were  received  at  from  other  nations.  The  adoption  of  this 
policy  was  the  wisest  statesmanship,  and  was  the  result,  un- 
doubtedly, of  a careful  study  of  the  conditions  and  wants  of  our 
own  people  and  of  the  people  of  Central  and  South  America, 
and  was  one  of  the  beneficent  results  of  the  late  Pan-American 
Congress,  held  in  Washington,  which  attracted  so  much  atten- 
tion in  this  country,  and  did  so  much  to  bring  us  into  closer  and 
better  relations  with  all  the  people  of  Central  and  South  America. 
[Great  applause.] 

The  returns  of  the  commerce  under  these  reciprocity  acts 
prove  conclusively  that  they  were  a very  great  benefit  to  our 
people  and  led  to  a large  increase  in  our  exports  to  those  coun- 
tries. I will  not  take  up  your  time  to  go  into  the  details  of  this 
matter;  doubtless  they  are  familiar  to  you,  and  all  the  leading 
producers  of  this  country. 

Unfortunately,  the  change  in  administration  in  1892  not  only 
stopped  the  negotiation  of  further  reciprocity  treaties,  but  brought 
about  the  abrogation  of  all  those  which  had  been  negotiated 
by  the  previous  administration.  There  seemed  to  be  but  one  de- 
sire in  the  State  Department  of  the  new  administration,  and  that 
was  to  overturn  and  destroy  everything  that  its  predecessor  had 
undertaken  and  accomplished.  The  nations  with  which  we  had 
negotiated  those  treaties  of  reciprocity  were  treated  with  scant 
courtesy  and  in  many  cases  even  with  discourtesy.  The  party 
that  abrogated  them  acted  in  a most  summary  and  undiplomatic 
manner,  and  our  trade  relations  and  diplomatic  relations  with  all 
those  countries,  instead  of  being  improved,  were  greatly  injured, 
so  much  so  that  it  is  dobutful  whether  new  treaties  of  reciprocity 
can  ever  be  successfully  negotiated  again.  Certainly,  all  those 
countries  would  be  justified  in  refusing  to  undertake  such  nego- 
tiations, on  the  ground  that  we  did  not  regard  our  treaties  when 
once  established. 

All  the  efforts  of  the  Republicans  to  establish  lines  of  steam- 
ships to  the  principal  ports  of  South  America,  through  the  in- 
strumentality of  proper  compensation  for  carrying  the  mails, 
have  failed  year  after  year  by  the  most  persistent  opposition  of 
the  Democratic  party  and  the  present  Democratic  Administra- 


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tion.  The  Democratic  party,  holding  as  it  does  that  we  should 
seek  free  trade,  and  particularly  export  trade  for  our  agricultural 
products,  whenever  in  power  or  control,  has  done  everything 
possible  to  prevent  our  securing  this  foreign  trade  and  thus 
making  a market  for  the  products  of  agriculture  and  manufac- 
tures, and  devoted  their  entire  energies  to  one  end,  and  that  is 
to  cripple  our  industries  by  destroying  our  protective  tariff 
system. 

Possibilities  of  Trade  With  the  Orient. 

In  addition  to  this  great  trade,  which  lies  ready  to  come  to  us, 
there  is  opening  up  a new  and  vast  trade  of  the  Orient  in  Japan 
and  China.  The  pacific  Ocean  is  doubtless  to  be  the  theatre  of 
the  greatest  commercial  development  during  the  next  century. 
The  population  of  the  nations  which  are  situated  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean  is  more  than  500,000,000,  the  great  bulk  of  which  is  just 
coming  into  trade  relations  with  the  outside  world.  The  present 
foreign  commerce  of  the  chief  of  these  nations,  namely,  China, 
Japan,  Corea,  Australia,  Hawaii  and  the  other  islands,  amounts 
to  in  round  numbers  $1 ,000,000,000.  In  the  near  future  that 
wrill  be  more  than  doubled,  and  in  50  years,  doubtless,  it  will 
be  quadrupled. 

Let  me  call  your  attention  to  our  trade  with  two  of  these 
principal  nations,  China  and  Japan.  In  1S93  China  imported 
products  to  the  value  of  $21 1 ,000,000,  of  which  we  furnished 
only  $7,000,000,  or  3 1-3  per  cent.  China  exported  the  same 
year  $162,000,000  worth,  of  which  the  L^nited  States  took  $15,- 
000,000,  or  a little  less  than  10  per  cent.  As  the  result  of  the 
late  Chinese  and  Japanese  war,  and  the  opening  of  a large  num- 
ber of  her  ports,  doubtless  this  trade  will  increase,  and  whether 
we  shall  get  our  proportion  of  it  depends  on  the  wisdom  of  our 
legislators  and  the  sagacity  of  our  manufacturers  and  merchants. 

In  the  same  year  Japan  imported  $98,000,000  worth,  of 
which  the  United  States  furnished  $6,000,000  or  a little  less 
than  6 per  cent.  The  same  year  she  exported  products  to  the 
amount  of  $90,000,000,  of  which  the  United  States  took  $28,- 
000,000,  or  31  per  cent. 

Our  relations  with  these  two  nations  are  of  a most  amicable 
character.  Their  people  are  desirous  of  a profitable  trade  with 
us.  The  difficulty  in  the  way  of  a rapid  growth  of  this  trade  is 
the  fact  that  Europe,  through  the  Suez  Canal,  has  a much 
shorter  and  cheaper  route  with  the  ports  of  Japan  and  China 
than  has  the  United  States. 


To  my  mind  there  is  but  one  possible  way  of  securing  to  the 
United  States  its  proper  proportion  of  the  vast  trade  of  the  Pa- 
cific, and  that  is  by  the  construction  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  a 
project  which  has  so  impressed  itself  on  the  people  of  the  Uni- 
ted States  that  certainly  a vast  majority  of  our  people  today  are 
in  favor  of  its  speedy  construction.  [Applause.] 

With  this  canal  open,  New  York  and  all  our  Atlantic  ports 
will  be  much  nearer  to  the  ports  of  Japan  and  to  the  ports  on 
the  west  coast  of  China  and  of  Australia  and  the  islands  of  the 
sea  than  is  Europe.  New  York,  through  the  Nicaragua  Canal, 
will  be  2,000  miles  nearer  to  Yokohama  than  Liverpool  or  any 
of  the  European  ports.  This  difference  in  our  favor  will  be  suf- 
ficient to  substantially  control  the  trade  of  that  great,  growing 
Empire.  [Applause.] 

I believe  that  the  American  people  are  fully  determined  to 
maintain  a just  and  wise  protective  tariff  system  ; that  they  are 
also  determined  to  do  whatever  shall  be  necessary  for  opening 
up  to  our  people  the  markets  of  all  the  countries  and  islands  ly- 
ing to  the  south,  and  that  they  are  equally  determined,  either 
through  Governmental  action  or  through  the  voluntary  action  of 
our  citizens,  to  construct  the  Nicaragua  Canal  at  the  earliest  pos- 
sible moment,  thereby  giving  to  our  people  the  opportunity  to 
reach  out  beyond  our  borders  and  to  take  and  firmly  hold  our 
fair  share  of  the  entire  trade  of  the  world.  [Great  and  pro- 
longed applause.] 


